Former first lady and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in a joint new conference with Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard that the U.S. and Australia will conduct joint research toward the goal of cutting the cost of producing solar panels.
Secretary Clinton made a comparison between solar power technology and mobile phones noting that mobile phones became more affordable when the technology to produce them became universal.
More at The Age.
United States and India Joining Together to launch Space Based Solar Power Initiative
A U.S. space organization the National Space Society and the former president of India P.J Abdul Kalam have announced that India and the United States are going to be teaming together to promote space based solar power satellite transmission. The project is estimated to last 15 years and will investigate ways to reduce the cost of launching spacecraft as well as harvesting and transmitting solar power.
Isro Satellite Centre an Indian space research organization will conduct a study to find out if the project will be economically feasible.
Further details at The Times of India.
Solar Power Panel Maker Solyndra Cutting Staff to Cut Costs
Fremont California based Solyndra, a company that designs and produces cylindrical solar power modules has announced they'll be reducing their staff.
The announcement comes at a time when the Chinese government has stepped up funding for it's solar power industry to the point where non-Chinese panel producers are having trouble competing with prices.
Solyndra has already gathered $1 Billion in venture capital as well as a $535 Million dollar loan guarantee from the DOE (Department of Energy). It was forced to cancel it's IPO in June amid U.S. economic troubles.
They are also moving equipment to their new facility in an attempt to streamline production. The company's communications director David Miller said "We are lowering the cost of the panel and making it easier to install to compete against the Chinese panels."
Analysis and more info at Silicon Valley-San Jose Business Journal.
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